Chicago-area woman fatally stabs two children

Originally published November 1, 2012 at 9:39 pm

Updated November 2, 2012 at 6:27 am

A suburban Chicago woman, who said she was angry that her truck-driver husband was often away from home, ordered her 7-year-old son and a kindergartner she was baby-sitting to kneel on a bedroom floor and pray, and then stabbed them both dozens of times, police said.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — A suburban Chicago woman ordered her 7-year-old son and a kindergartner she was baby-sitting to kneel on a bedroom floor and pray, and then stabbed them both dozens of times as they begged for their lives, striking again and again as she told her son he was going to heaven, authorities said Thursday.

Officers who forced their way inside the locked apartment hours later found blood-spattered walls and the children’s bodies in a master bedroom where moments before the killings they had been happily jumping on a bed, prosecutors said.

The Naperville police chief said it was the most gruesome sight he’d seen in three decades on the job.

Elzbieta Plackowska, 40, an immigrant from Poland, told investigators she stabbed the children and slashed their throats Tuesday night because she was angry that her husband, a truck driver, was often away, Du-Page County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said.

“She told the detectives that she thought by killing (her son) Justin she would make her husband hurt the way she hurt in their relationship,” Berlin said.

Plackowska told detectives she found Justin and Olivia Dworakowski, 5, jumping on a bed, Berlin said.

Plackowska told police that she had instructed the children to kneel on the floor and begin to pray, Berlin said. Justin kept saying, “Mommy, please don’t do this. I love you. I love you.” His mother responded, “You’re going to go to heaven tonight,” Berlin said, adding, “It was probably as gruesome and horrible a crime as you’re ever going to see.”

Berlin said that Justin had been stabbed about 100 times and Olivia, 50 times. Their throats also were cut. Two dogs were also killed.

The children were found when a frantic mother returned home. Marta Dworakowski, 32, arrived at the town house where she lived with her daughter Tuesday and was unable to open the locked door. She went to Plackowska’s house but could not find her or the children and called the police.

Plackowska arrived in the United States from her native Poland on a tourist visa 12 years ago, Berlin said. She is not a U.S. citizen, and authorities were trying to verify her immigration status.

Berlin said she has no previous history of violence, although she had a misdemeanor DUI from about 10 years ago.

Illinois does not have the death penalty, but a conviction on the two charges of first-degree murder Plackowska faces would carry a mandatory life sentence.

Michael Mara, the public defender who is representing her, declined to comment on the case.